RIAA opposes more reasonable anti-piracy bill

A new anti-piracy bill that is going through Congress has not got the backing of the Recording Industry Association of America.

Dubbed the OPEN Act, the RIAA says that it will do nothing to stop online infringement and “may even make the problem worse.”

According to Ars Technica, Big Content is apparently leaning on its sock puppets to kill the bill until it includes a few more draconian punishments and draws up the US Constitution to give it total control.

The RIAA thinks that the bill does not establish a workable framework, standards, or remedies. It is not supported by those it purports to protect.

OPEN is sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and tries to shift enforcement against rogue sites to the International Trade Commission.

If the ITC found a site was dedicated to infringement, the site would be cut off from American advertising and payment networks.

However, the RIAA is worried that this will take ages and indeed, the ITC might actually carry out an investigation rather than take its word as proof of infringement.

The process envisioned by OPEN would allow for “endless submissions by parties such as Google” to slow down the process.

The RIAA also warns that the need to hire an attorney to navigate the ITC’s arcane legal process will “put justice out of reach for small business American victims of IP theft.” We would be intrigued to know which small business would be interested in trying to take a pirate site to the cleaners. Under the current system we have not seen a family business try to take down a file sharer. So far the main prosecutors have been Big Content and while we understand it wants to have the state do its enforcement for it, that is not really what tax dollars are for.

The RIAA also says it’s “virtually impossible” to prove that a site infringed wilfully, as OPEN requires.

OPEN “needs to be scrapped,” the statement says. “Stakeholders and Congress need to start over with a fresh look at solving this problem.”

We guess it will not be happy until it can round up every internet user on suspicion of piracy and shove them into death camps, using US troops to invade countries which are havens for software and music piracy.